


Anything You Feel Like

by TransAsamiSato



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Trans Female Character, Transphobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-05-29 22:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6395578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TransAsamiSato/pseuds/TransAsamiSato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter (the prologue) is in present tense, but the rest of the fic will be in past tense. It's also shorter than most of the other chapters will be, as it's sort of meant to be a prose poem introducing the setting/character.</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Asami Sato realizes who she is earlier than most people. On her fifth birthday, when her mother picks her up and asks who her “big strong man” is, she already knows something is wrong. At first, Hiroshi is apprehensive. It’s all alien to him, and he doesn’t really understand. But Yasuko tries to. For ten months, little Asami’s life is defined by visits to the doctor - or her therapist - with her mother. Yasuko quickly finds out that there won’t be anything to do for a while, medically speaking. Puberty blockers won’t become necessary for years, so until then she’ll just try to be the best mother she can for her little girl. She had always wanted a daughter anyway; maybe this was the spirits’ way of giving her a second chance. 

But after Asami’s sixth birthday, the first one where the cake says the right name, Hiroshi and Yasuko have a fight. Hiroshi still doesn’t understand. After explaining to his parents why they don’t have a grandson, why he doesn’t have an heir - at least in their eyes - he takes Yasuko into the kitchen and asks her to explain the same things to him. It doesn’t go well. Whispers turn into talking. Talking turns into shouting. Shouting turns into Hiroshi throwing a vase across the room, and before it shatters it takes a priceless painting with it. Asami’s sobs from the dining room are only worsened by her grandparents attempts at comforting her. They use the wrong name. 

For weeks the entire Sato estate is on edge. Hiroshi still calls Asami “Asami,” but he says it like it’s a lie. Like it’s just the name of a character she’s playing, like his son will be back soon. Yasuko still takes Asami to her therapist, but before they go in she tells her not to talk about her father at all. Then, in the early hours of the morning, the tension shatters with a gunshot. A few men seeking riches have broken into the house, but all they find is Yasuko. As the first rays of sunshine come through the windows, she breathes her last. After Yasuko’s death, Hiroshi does his best to raise Asami as she wants to be raised. If Yasuko can’t raise Asami, he hopes that at least she can grow up to be a woman her mother would be proud of. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter (the prologue) is in present tense, but the rest of the fic will be in past tense. It's also shorter than most of the other chapters will be, as it's sort of meant to be a prose poem introducing the setting/character.


	2. Move In Girl

Fifteen years after her mother died, Asami Sato stood in front of a mirror in her dorm room applying her favorite dark red lipstick. It was her first day of classes in her junior year, and her first year at a new college. The women’s college had recently changed its admission policy to allow transgender students, and Asami had always wanted to attend the school anyway. When she heard the news she put all of her father’s resources into transferring as quickly as possible.

She had to be sure to make a good impression at the school; it had been hard enough to get a group of friends when she was a freshman, and now that there were already groups established it would be even harder.

She already had someone in mind who she wanted to at least befriend, if not more. The only problem was she didn’t even know her name. Asami had spotted her lifting boxes for someone on move in day, at a dorm across campus from her own.

The girl had brown hair cut to a shoulder length bob, the bluest eyes Asami had ever seen, light brown skin, and muscles that rippled as she lifted boxes too heavy for your average wrestler. And possibly her most important feature, in Asami’s eyes, was a tattoo on her left shoulder blade. Which Asami could see because she was wearing __a tank top.__ The tattoo showed two black venus symbols, overlapping in the circles like a venn diagram, which was universal language for “I’m super gay.”

 

After about five minutes, Asami realized that she had been staring into the mirror blankly, thinking about that girl, when she hadn’t even finished applying her lipstick. She really needed to get her shit together.

Hastily finishing her makeup, she rushed out the door to get to her first class on time. It was some English lecture that she had to take because she had just transferred, and which would definitely bore her. And who should be sitting next to the only open seat but move in day girl. __Fuck.__ At least Asami was looking her best. She would need it.

 

Meanwhile this girl didn’t even have to try, she still looked stunning. Her hair fell lazily, and seemed unbrushed, but it still looked so incredibly soft. She wasn’t wearing a tank top this time, but instead donned a t-shirt with the arms cut off so Asami would have to suffer through this two hour lecture with biceps taunting her from a foot away. Tight blue jeans covered her legs, which Asami was thankful for. Taking her seat, Asami pulled out her laptop to take notes, and bit her lip hard to avoid thinking about the girl next to her.

 

Two hours of her life gone, Asami began to pack up her things, and prepared to head back to her dorm and eat lunch alone before getting ready for her next class.

“Hey, you’re that new girl right?” A voice far softer than she expected called from behind her.

“Y-yeah?” Caught off guard, Asami’s brain had to reboot in order to properly execute its flirting processes.

“I’m Korra.” A surprisingly small hand was extended towards Asami, and it took her a moment to realize that she was supposed to shake it.

“Asami.” She said her name with the most attractive voice she could muster. Which, in her current state, was basically just talking really fast, so her syllables sort of squished together and her name came out more like “Assmey,” which was not what she wanted at all.

“Good to meet you Asami,” __Oh thank god, she doesn’t think I’m a Twilight character,__ “Do you want to grab lunch with me and the gang? I transferred last year and I know how hard it can be to make friends here.”

“That… would be great!” Asami hoped that she wasn’t overdoing the enthusiasm.

 

Korra grabbed her food - two (2) hamburgers - and was even kind enough to buy Asami’s salad. Then she led Asami over to her group of friends. She and Korra sat across from each other at an otherwise full table. To the right of Asami was a girl with hair just a bit shorter and skin just a shade lighter than Korra’s. That was Opal, whose family owned half of the supermarkets in Republic City. On her left was Eska, Korra’s cousin whose eyeliner looked like it was about to hop onto the table and run away. To the left of Korra sat Zhu Li, an engineering major (like Asami) who wore circular glasses that she probably should get resized, as she continually had to push them back onto her nose with her forefinger. And to the right of Korra sat one of the most intimidating women Asami had ever seen

She was easily six foot two, taller than Asami herself, which was unusual. Her hair was cut incredibly short, and shaved on the sides, making her whole head appear more angular and frightening. Not to mention it accented her cheekbones, which were sharp enough to cut diamond.

As Korra sat down, the woman wrapped an arm around her shoulder and leaned over to kiss her. When they pulled away, the mysterious stranger’s lips were now transformed into a smirk. She looked over the table at Asami, and raised her eyebrows - which were so defined Asami almost couldn’t believe it.

“And Asami, this is my girlfriend, Kuvira!” Even after the kiss, the word girlfriend was like a glass of cold water thrown in Asami’s face. At least the water was only metaphorical, and her makeup wouldn’t run.

“Nice to meet you.” Asami waved her hand by sort of lifting it up and shaking it rapidly, more like a dog wagging its tail than a normal human wave. She was really on a roll today.

“So Asami, you’re new? A transfer?” Kuvira’s questions had an underlying motive that Asami was struggling to identify.

“Yeah, I went to RCU for two years. Not my kinda place, you know?”

“Totally, totally. Too many dudes, right?” Kuvira chuckled “Although it’s looking like this place is going the same way.” The bite of salad in Asami’s mouth suddenly tasted like dirt. “First they’re letting in these fucking males, next thing you know it’s no different from every other rapist-filled campus on the planet. You can’t trust them.” Fear cut through Asami’s whole body, a black hole at her diaphragm making her feel nauseous and weak. “You know what I mean, right new girl?” It took every bit of energy in her to get out a feeble nod. Suddenly the salad in front of her was the most interesting thing in the room, and she made sure to give it her full attention for as long as possible.

The conversation remained on the same topic, but didn’t come back to Asami’s corner. While trying to make herself look as small as possible, she snuck a glance at Korra, who was completely invested in her hamburger. Maybe she was still safe, maybe Korra wasn’t as terrible as her girlfriend. Either way, Asami knew that her bubble of safety had been popped. Attempt number 1 at finding friends at this school had failed, miserably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter! Sorry if you're a fan of Korvira, but that's not where I'm going with this one. I have no problem with the pairing, but the story needs a villain and Kuvira fits the bill.


	3. The Rotten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the crazy delay, but I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Asami’s dorm room was best described as “organized chaos.” It didn’t look like a twister had just hit, but maybe like a twister hit about a week or two earlier. Enough time that emergency services had stepped in and helped survivors, but not enough that there wasn’t still the debris of houses and trailer parks spread across a mile wide path through Kansas. The bed was unmade, but the sheets had been cleaned recently. Most dirty laundry was in the hamper, and any that wasn’t could at least be described as hamper-adjacent. Clean clothes were strewn across the floor - the exception being Asami’s favorite sweatshirt, which was folded on the back of the chair at her desk. Sitting in said chair was Asami herself. 

 

Well, “sitting” is a strong word. Asami was perched on the seat, with her knees pulled up to her chest. Posed like this, her height of six feet was reduced significantly, which was part of the reason she liked to do it. She was wearing athletic shorts and an oversized sweater which almost concealed the shorts entirely. Her hair was hastily pulled back into a ponytail, held together with a pencil; she had lost her last scrunchie the weekend before. Perched precariously atop her askew glasses - she hadn’t bothered putting on contacts - was a second pencil tucked behind her right ear. It was a Saturday, a few weeks into the school year. The remnants of a mild hangover were still rattling around in Asami’s skull, and she was definitely not planning on going out again tonight. Instead, she would be staying in and playing some Dark Souls 2 on her laptop. Trying not to be completely antisocial, on the other end of her gaming headset she was talking to two of her closest friends. 

“Fuck!” Asami yelled and tossed her controller onto the desk, before rubbing her temples upon remembering her headache.

“Die to the Rotten again?”

“Fuck you Mako…yes I did.” Mako and Asami had dated briefly in high school, until he ended up cheating on her with some girl from his basketball league. 

“Try rolling into his attacks!” Bolin, Mako’s younger brother, chimed in. 

“Bo I understand how I’m supposed to fight him, I just keep fucking it up”

“Maybe you should try getting good” Bolin only knew enough about the game to make fun of Asami for how bad she was.

“Nah, I’m done with this shit for now. You guys wanna do something else?”

“Can we talk about this cool girl I met last night?” 

“Bo you’re always talking about some girl or other, let me know if this crush lasts more than a week”

“Speaking of last night, Wu and I were at that club with Bolin-”

“Mako, I don’t want to hear about you and your boyfriend either.”

“Remember bro, she’s in a bit of a ‘romantic rut’ right now.”

“Hey! It’s not a rut. I just have to… ignore her. And pretend she doesn’t exist. And doesn’t sit next to me every day. And doesn’t smell really good and have really pretty eyes and really cute hair and a really cute tattoo and-”

“Yeah, let me know how that goes!”

“Fuck you guys” Asami clicked the disconnect button on the call to the chorus of laughter coming through her headphones. Today was not the day for Dark Souls with the boys, apparently. Asami needed to unwind, to relax. So she directed her browser over to Netflix and decided she would spend the whole day watching _Always Sunny_. Homework for her classes could wait until Sunday, since she was almost done with her engineering degree and her course load was lighter than it had been previously. 

 

Come Monday, with the reading done and detailed notes in her bag, Asami walked across campus to her first class of the day. Her class with Korra. In the past couple of weeks, Asami had avoided speaking to Korra whenever it was possible. She was dodging encounters just barely by taking unusual routes to class, eating lunch in her dorm room every day, doing everything she could to avoid the pain of seeing the only person she really wanted to see. The one thing she couldn’t avoid was seating. It wasn’t like their seats were assigned, but she had tried sitting somewhere else and got a serious glare from the girl who usually sat in that seat. So Asami was stuck with Korra, at least on Mondays and Thursdays. On this particular Monday, the seat next to Asami’s was vacant when she walked into the room. It was unusual that Asami wasn’t the last one there, since she was habitually late. Maybe Korra had slept through her alarm? One could only hope that today’s awkward encounter would be avoided. The professor - one Dr. Suyin Beifong - walked into the room just as Asami took her seat. 

 

About twenty five minutes later, Korra sprinted through the door and towards the back of the classroom, towards Asami. 

“Sorry Su! Got caught up in the protest.” Korra was apparently not only on first name basis with the professor, but _nickname_ basis. Dr. Beifong rolled her eyes at Korra’s hasty entrance, clearly used to her wild attitude. Breathing hard, Korra fell haphazardly into her chair, feet sticking out one side and head almost on Asami’s shoulder. It was impossible not to back away slightly in response, which inspired Korra to look upside-down at Asami. 

“Hey ‘Sami,” She whispered - still upside-down - with a tiny wave, “you do the reading?”

With a half smile and an amused shake of her head, Asami slid her notes across the desk to Korra. In response, Korra pulled out her own notebook, which contained her own notes from the reading. She then pulled a pen out of her pocket and hastily scribbled something in the corner of Asami’s notebook. In return she received a quizzical look, so she pulled out her phone and mimed texting on it. Asami mouthed an “Ohhhh!” of realization and looked took her phone out of her pocket. The number written on the paper was presumably Korra’s, so Asami entered it into her phone and then texted “hi~” to a girl sitting right next to her. A look of mock surprise lit Korra’s face, and she turned to Asami and did another small wave - this time just wiggling her fingers a little. Getting over this girl was going to be harder than she thought. Might as well get to know her in the meantime. 

“so what was it that made you so late to class?”

“kuv was staging this protest about the new gender policies, i dont really care but hey, gotta support the bae, right? :-)” _That nose in the smiley face is oddly endearing_

“im surprised you get along with her friends, politics seem to be all they care about”

“oh i dont rlly hang with those guys. i mostly talk to the other girls on the b-ball team & some friends from the area :-)” _Oh my god is that a signature?_

“yea i dont really know anyone here, but i have some friends in town too”

“hey, crzy idea, let’s get all of our area friends together & catch a movie this wknd!!!!!!!!!!! :-)” _Jesus Christ it’s a signature. I have a crush on a sixty year old woman._

“that sounds like fun, i’d totally be down” 

“ill text my friends, u text urs, we can talk times after class!!! :-)” Hopping over to her group chat with Mako and Bolin, Asami typed out a quick text: “alert alert sos. girl wants to see move w/you guys and her ‘local friends’ this weekend.” Giving a thumbs-up to Korra that her message had been delivered, she turned back to the lecture. Somehow they had moved from _Hamlet_ to _Beowulf_ in the last ten minutes. After pressing the palm of her hand into her forehead, Asami began furiously taking down everything on the whiteboard. About five minutes later, her phone started losing its mind in her pocket, vibrating at least twice per second. She glance over at Korra, whose phone was away. Must be the boys. No need to answer for now. 

 

When the class finally ended after what seemed like an eternity, Asami finally checked the group chat. There were about seventy messages from Bolin that just said “LMAO” in all caps. After scrolling through the sea of laughter, Asami found its source. In response to Asami’s earlier SOS, Mako had sent an image followed by “wtf…” The image was a screenshot of a group chat titled “The Krew.” Many messages were displayed on the screen, from “Bo Peep” (a nickname Asami had given Bolin,) Mako’s own blue messages, and a third person whose name was entered as “Korea.” The most recent message was from Korea, and it read “cool girl frm my class wants 2 c movie with yall!!! lets schej (schedule lol) this shit :-)” Not entirely believing what she was seeing, Asami looked up from her phone and tried to find Korra in the throng of leaving students, but she was already gone. _Well, this certainly makes things interesting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who could that mysterious girl from Mako's basketball league be? I wonder...


End file.
